A Lesson in Momentum
Momentum: There is no stat that
measures this intangible force, it cant be seen, heard, smelled, or tasted,
there is no way to quantify who has it and who doesn’t, but yet even the most
staunch statisticians will admit to its existence.
So that
leaves us with todays lesson, what exactly is momentum? The best way to
describe it is an immeasurable force. Momentum is not random, there is always
something that sparks it, or causes it to change hands. Sometimes it is taken
through performance, for instance Danny Green’s hot handedness from behind the
arc during the middle of the NBA Finals, or sometimes its taken from outside of
sports, like the Boston Strong movement that provided a spark to all of the professional
teams from the city of Boston.
However
momentum cant be understood just by giving a loose definition, to truly
understand momentum one must look deeper than just the surface, and notice the
underlying factors that make up a game.
Last nights Stanley Cup Final is a
great example. The Blackhawks led the Bruins 3-2 in the series. With
elimination looming, the home team Bruins clearly had the momentum to start the
game. It was evident in their play, from the opening puck drop they were on the
offensive, pounding away in the corners, leaving everything on the ice. The
Blackhawks were on their heels from the start, reeling from the pace set by the
Bruins.
Before ten minutes had gone by the
Bruins had their first goal. Bruins defenseman Tory Krug dives after and
desperately slaps at the puck, keeping it within the blue line. Bruins center Chris
Kelley takes control and passes to Daniel Paille, who flicks the puck towards
the net, where it is knocked down by the glove of Tyler Seguin, and slid across
the front of the crease to a waiting Kelley, who puts it by a helpless Corey
Crawford. The desperation and physicality of Krug is a good example of the
Bruins as a whole that game, driven and agressive. For almost the whole first
period the Bruins were dominant, all the way up until about the very end of the
period, when the first shift in momentum happened.
After making a bad pass in the neutral
zone, which leads to a turnover, Chicago forward Andrew Shaw hustles back
towards his goal, catching up with Boston’s Shawn Thorton. Shaw attempts to
poke away the puck, but Thorton gets away a heavy-handed slap shot before he
can. The puck deflects up, striking Shaw in the corner of his eye and cheek. He
falls hard to the ice, where he skids several feet before coming to a halt
inside of the Hawks blue line. This brings us to an important point in Momentum
101: Overcoming adversity is a surefire way to steal the momentum. As Shaw lay
there on the ice, it would have been easy for him to call it a day. He was
bleeding profusely from a gash beneath his eye and on his cheek, likely
fractured his cheekbone, and possibly was concussed.
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A bloody Andrew Shaw during a post game interview.
Shaw took a puck to the face late in the first period. |
No one would’ve blamed him
for leaving the game to get some treatment. That thought never even crossed his
mind. In fact after being asked about why he didn’t sit out he said “There has
to be something seriously wrong with you to not play this game.” After about
thirty seconds on the ice, Shaw got up, skated to the bench, and got his cuts
looked after. You won’t see this play on any highlight reels, its not going to
make big news, and wont make Shaw a star of the game, but the role his
toughness played to the game is unarguable.
The Blackhawks seemed to come alive
after Shaw’s injury. The toughness displayed by the team throughout the
playoffs finally showed, and the period finished with a few good chances for
the Hawks. The first period ended in a 1-0 Bruins lead.
When the second period started, you
could tell that the momentum had shifted. The Blackhawks started to show even
more toughness; captain Jonathan Toews began to play like a captain, even going
into the corners with the likes of Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who stands
almost a full foot taller than Toews. Just before the five-minute mark in the
second period, Toews showed why he wears the C on his sweater. Toews won a
neutral zone faceoff, and pushed the puck over to forward Michael Rozival, who
poked the puck along the boards past an advancing Chara. Toews explodes out of
the faceoff, and takes the puck on the right side just as it passes the blue
line. Toews was alone on goal, and with a nifty leg kick and a flick of the
wrist it was tied at one a piece.
The goal seemed to light a fire under
the Bruins, and now both teams were playing with a remarkable amount of
toughness. Both teams had spectacular chances to score throughout the second
period, as the momentum flowed freely back and forth between the two teams. The
third was much of the same, with chances coming from both sides. Halfway
through the third and the game was still tied at one a piece. But shortly after,
the Bruins constant pounding away finally paid dividends, from one of the best
two-way lines in hockey, Kreici, Horton, and Lucic. After forcing a turnover
behind Chicago’s net, Kreici sends the puck to the front, where Horton slaps it
down and Lucic finishes the play, putting the puck on net where it deflects off
of Crawford’s blocker, hits the inside of the post, then bounces off his back
and in.
The score is 2-1, there is less than
eight minutes left, and TD Gardens is absolutely erupting. Put yourself in the
skates of a Blackhawk. The whole situation feels hopeless, right? Wrong. If you
have followed the Blackhawks at all during these playoffs, you knew that this
game was a long way from over, and the Hawks players knew it too.
This is another important part of
understanding momentum. What creates momentum for whom? For some teams, this is
a back breaker; the rest of the game is played with heads hung, preparing for
game 7. However the Blackhawks are of a different mindset. They need the
desperation, the seemingly impossible, to motivate them to play at their best.
Take the series against the Detroit Red Wings. Down 3-1 in the series, the
Hawks came back and won the series in game 7, something that no one but Hawks
fans and players predicted. The Hawks are a “Never Say Die” kind of team, and
they never did say die. With less than eight minutes left, the Hawks began to
play like the team that set a record for most regular season games earning at
least a point. They scratched, clawed, and fought for every puck, and never
hung their heads.
With ninety seconds left, the
Blackhawks pulled the goalie. Patrick Kane carried the puck across the Boston
blue line, and fired at Boston goalie Tuuka Rask. Rask deflected the shot away
to the corner where it was picked up by Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenburg,
who slid it along the boards to Kreici. Kreici turned to send it up the boards,
but the way was blocked by Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith. Kreici is rocked by
a hit from Toews, and the loose puck was picked up by Patrick Kane, who passed
it into the corner to Toews, who then put the puck across the front of the
crease to Chicago’s grinder forward Brian Bickell, who put it home between the
legs of Rask.
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Jonathan Toews leaps over Zdeno Chara after assisting
Brian Bickell's late 3rd period equalizer. |
Talk about a momentum shift. The
Bruins, who thought they had all the momentum, absolutely had the rug pulled
out from under them. 70 seconds from forcing game 7 and they give up a goal!
Momentum gone.
Now it was all Hawks, and they weren’t
done yet. Right off of the faceoff, the Hawks dance around a deflated Bruins defense,
Hawks forward Michael Frolik sends a slapshot to the goal, the rebound ends up at
the feet of Chicago’s Kruger, who sends it back to O’Duya for the point slap
shot. Frolik deflects the shot down, the rebound off of Rask’s pad lands
directly in front of Hawk’s forward Dave Bolland. Wrist flick, glove toss, game
over.
While it can shift countless times
during one game, momentum is the immeasurable force that controls whether
you’re lifting the Lord Stanley’s Cup, or walking to your locker room while another
team celebrates on your ice. Momentum is the madness that keeps sports fans
coming back game after game, year after year.
In the 1995 season, total attendance across all teams was roughly 50.5 million, but with the kick off of the steroid era, attendance rose, in 1998 the MLB recorded a record high at the time of 70.6 million attendees in one year.
The money may still be rising, but the statistics are not. In 2013 the only player to hit 40 Home Runs was Nelson Cruz, and the total attendance for the MLB has tapered to 73 million. The growth of the MLB has fallen because these players are not putting up their video game numbers anymore. If it weren't for Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's home run record, or Alex Rodriguez with his two steroid scandals, or Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hitting a combined 136 home runs in one season baseball would have made the way of the Dodo or David Letterman, we'd be hanging the sport up in the rafters. We should be honoring and thanking these players for sacrificing their bodies for a sport they, and we, love.
